MSD is spinning off products from its women’s health, legacy brands, and biosimilars franchises into a new independent, publicly traded company (“NewCo”)

Board of Directors

Carrie Cox – Board Chair

Carrie serves as chairman of the Organon Board of Directors. She is the former executive chairman of Humacyte, Inc., a privately held regenerative medical-technology company, since 2018. She joined Humacyte in 2010 as its CEO, adding the title of chairman in 2013. Carrie served as executive vice president of Schering-Plough and president of Schering-Plough’s global pharmaceutical business from 2003 until 2009, when Schering-Plough merged with Merck & Co., Inc. Prior to joining Schering-Plough, Carrie was president of Pharmacia Corporation’s pharmaceutical business from 1997 until its merger with Pfizer Inc. in 2003. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Texas Instruments Inc., Cardinal Health Inc. and Selecta Biosciences, Inc. Carrie is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.

Kevin Ali

Kevin serves as our chief executive officer and is a member of the Board of Directors. In his most recent role at Merck, he led the company’s global enterprise portfolio strategy initiative, reporting to chairman and CEO Kenneth Frazier. Prior to this role, between 2017 and 2019, Kevin was the president of MSD International, with commercial responsibility for all markets outside of the United States. Under his leadership, the MSD International division was a significant driver of Merck’s growth. Earlier in his Merck career, Kevin was the president of the Emerging Markets region, where he transformed the performance of many markets into sustained growth and strength and introduced a number of important commercial development partnerships. He has also held several additional leadership roles at Merck, including senior vice president and general manager of the bone, respiratory, immunology and dermatology franchise; senior vice president and managing director of MSD in Germany; and managing director of MSD in Turkey. Kevin is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and holds an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Robert Essner

Bob is the former chairman president and CEO of Wyeth, LLC, a global pharmaceutical company with a substantial women’s health division acquired by Pfizer Inc. in 2009. Prior to joining Wyeth, Bob held senior roles at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Since 2009, Bob has served as a senior advisor of Global Healthcare for The Carlyle Group Inc. He also serves as an executive in residence and adjunct professor of business at Columbia Business School.

Alan Ezekowitz, M.D., Ph.D.

Alan is currently a partner at Third Rock Ventures, LLC, and serves as entrepreneur in residence at Cardinal Partners. From 2011 to 2019, Alan was co-founder and CEO of Abide Therapeutics, Inc., which was acquired by Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in 2019. He was previously a senior vice president at Merck Research Laboratories responsible for the bone, respiratory, immunology, inflammation and dermatology franchises. Prior to his time at Merck, Alan was the chief of pediatric services at Partner Healthcare System, Inc. and at the Massachusetts General Hospital. From 1995 to 2006, he was the Charles Wilder professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Alan was born in South Africa, educated at the University of Cape Town, and earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Fatima de Vera Francisco

Fama is the CEO of global baby and feminine care for the Procter & Gamble Company. She has spent her career at Procter & Gamble in positions of increasing responsibility, including president of global baby care and president of global feminine care. Her consumer marketing and operational experience, especially in the specialized area of women’s health, are valuable skill sets for the Organon board. Originally from the Philippines and a graduate of the University of the Philippines Los Banos, Fama currently resides in Switzerland.

Helene Gayle, M.D.

Helene is the president and CEO of the Chicago Community Trust, an over-100-year old civic organization dedicated to addressing the region’s racial and ethnic disparities. Dr. Gayle formerly served as CEO of the McKinsey Social Initiative as well as president and CEO of the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE). Prior to her role at CARE, she held senior posts at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition to her public health experience, Helene has significant public company governance experience. She currently serves as a director on the boards of The Coca-Cola Company, where she chairs the human capital management and compensation committee; the Colgate-Palmolive Company, where she chairs the nominating, governance and corporate responsibility committee; as well as GoHealth, Inc., a newly public company listed in July 2020. Helene earned a B.A. in psychology from Barnard College, a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University.

Shelly Lazarus

Shelly has served as chairman emeritus of Ogilvy & Mather, a global advertising and marketing communication company, since 2012. Prior to that, she served as chairman of Ogilvy & Mather between 2008 and 2012 and as its chairman and CEO between 1996 and 2008. Prior to those roles, she also served as president of Ogilvy & Mather Direct North America, Ogilvy & Mather New York and Ogilvy & Mather North America. She previously served on the Board of Directors of Merck from 2004 to 2020 and the General Electric Company from 2000 to 2018. She is currently a director of the Blackstone Group. Shelly is also a trustee of the New York Presbyterian Hospital and is a member of the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School as well as several other charitable and civic organizations. She is a graduate of Smith College and received an MBA from Columbia University.

Deborah Leone

Debbie is the former chief operating officer, investment management at the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Prior to her COO role, she served as a partner and director of internal audit at Goldman Sachs from 2011 to 2017, and as partner and controller, investment management from 2008 to 2011. Debbie received a B.S. in accounting and an MBA in accounting and finance from Syracuse University.

Martha McGarry

Martha has been a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meaher & Flom LLP since 1977. Her practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and private equity. Martha’s extensive experience in M&A and supporting growth companies in their business development efforts is a substantial asset to the Organon Board of Directors. She received a law degree from Fordham University and a B.A. from Middlebury College.

Philip Ozuah, M.D., Ph.D.

Philip is the president and CEO of Montefiore Medicine, having previously served as the president of Montefiore Health System (2018-2019) and executive vice president and COO of Montefiore Health System (2012-2018). Prior to joining Montefiore, Philip was chairman and professor of the department of pediatrics and the department of epidemiology, population health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Originally from Nigeria, he earned a medical degree from the University of Ibadan. He also holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska and a master’s in education from the University of Southern California.

Cynthia Patton

Cynthia is currently executive vice president and general counsel at Verily Life Sciences, part of Alphabet Inc. Previously, she served as senior vice president and chief compliance officer at Amgen Inc. from 2012 to 2020. Prior to Amgen, she served as general counsel of SCAN Health Plan, a California HMO. Cynthia serves on the Board of Directors of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles, CA, a private, nonprofit, safety-net hospital serving South Los Angeles. She received a J.D. from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College.

Grace Puma

Grace serves as executive vice president, global operations at PepsiCo, Inc., a position she has held since 2017. Over a career spanning multiple industries, Grace has served as senior vice president and global chief procurement officer at PepsiCo (2010 to 2016), senior vice president and global chief procurement officer at United Continental Holdings (2007-2010) and in positions of increasing responsibility at Kraft Foods, Inc. (1999-2007) and Motorola, Inc. (1995-1999). She served as a director of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. from 2017 to 2020.

Shalini Sharp

Shalini was the CFO and executive vice president of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc., a position she held since 2012 until her retirement in September 2020. Prior to joining Ultragenyx, she was CFO of Agenus Inc. from 2003 to 2012 and served as interim CEO of Elan Corporation, PLC from 2001 to 2003. Shalini has extensive public company governance experience in the biotechnology industry, having served as a director and chair of the audit committee at Sutro Biopharma, Inc. since 2018, and as a director and chair of the audit committee at Precision Biosciences, Inc. since 2019. She also currently serves as a director at Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. She received an MBA and a B.A. from Harvard University.